Psalm 19: The Art of God

First, I would like to remind you that I am only a humble girl before God, writing to you what I believe He has put on my mind.

When I read Psalm 19, I picture David to be meditating. Meditating on God's creation, on his word...the law, meditating on his own sinfulness, and ending the psalm by pointing to salvation.

Psalm 19:1-6 is what I call the Art of God. As you all know I love art, and maybe what you didn't know is my favorite artist is Monet. I appreciate Monet. To me, his creations on canvas are absolutely beyond brilliant! The way he used colors, light, shadows, etc. to his advantage is incredibly hard to recreate! I believe he could create a painting for every mood or feeling there is. Just at a glance his paintings seem like they're just a bunch of messy brush strokes thrown on canvas...but in reality each brush stroke was intentional and had a purpose. His creations pointed to what a perfect artist Monet was. His creations are testimony of what a perfect artist he was. His creations are evidence of what a perfect artist he was!

Now, if one simple painting can say that much about it's creator, what does the world and everything on it say about our Lord?? Verse 1 speaks of declaring and proclaiming. Even though creation cannot verbally speak, it does speak! David says that it "declares the glory of God." I think it is awesome that David uses physical ways to praise an invisible God. I am a very visual person, and the way that David writes puts pictures in my mind. I like v.3-4 because it says that even though "there is no speech or language" among God's creation, "their voice goes out into all the earth." I believe he is saying that even in those remote places on earth, where people have not heard the word of God proclaimed, they should still recognize a creator simply from the creation in which they live. Even though I admit that I don't fully understand that concept, how awesome is it that's God's glory and perfectness is displayed on this ENTIRE earth?!!

In Psalm 7-11 David is speaking of the law...or the word of God. Now, I still look at this as the Art of God. The analogy that I gave you before is that Monet's paintings point to their creator, they are evidence of the perfect artist. The word of God was DESIGNED to point to Him. It is a tool that the Lord gave us to know him, to know his character, to know his heart, to know his will for us! I think it is great how David presents the law to us. We have been talking in our Sunday night bible study group how the law is freedom...and David gives us reasons why it is our freedom. He tells us that the law "revives the soul...gives joy to the heart...gives light to the eyes...endures forever." If you saw those phrases by themselves, wouldn't you want to know how to get those things? David assures us in v.11 that in keeping the law "there is great reward."

I believe in v.12-13, David is talking to the Lord of his own sin. Because of the law we therefore know what sin is. We are such fallen creatures that I think sometimes we are not even aware of the great amount of sin in our lives. How many times have we gone through a day and not asked God for forgiveness of anything? We most certainly were not perfect that day, yet we were not aware enough of our sin to ask forgiveness. This is what David is expressing in v. 12. "Who can discern his errors?" And then he asks for forgiveness in a generality..."Forgive my hidden faults." Isn't it awesome that we are forgiven by grace?!! I think that sometimes we know our sin and feel guilty of it, and sometimes that guilt drives our actions to be better...which is a good thing. However, because of God's grace we cannot let sin or guilt cripple us. I believe David also recognized this in v.12 where he says, "may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of transgression."

I believe v.14 is ending with a reference to salvation. Psalm 19 began with creation, moving to the law, then to sin, and now that David's asked for forgiveness he is seeking the Lord. He wants to be "pleasing in his sight." He acknowledges with the very last word of the psalm that the Lord is his redeemer!

I hope that you all have had a fabulous week and I will see you tomorrow!
Love you guys!
Em